$15-Million Gift Will Expand Rice U. Urban Study

A pioneering urban study developed nearly 30 years ago by Rice University researchers will be expanded to cities around the world thanks to a $15-million donation by the philanthropists Rich and Nancy Kinder, The Houston Chronicle says.

The gift to the renamed Kinder Institute for Urban Research will maintain the annual Houston Area Survey, which has documented demographic and cultural shifts in the Texas metropolis since 1982, and support a new project pairing Rice researchers with peers to study other cities in the United States as well as cities in Asia, Europe, and South America.

Mr. Kinder, who heads the pipeline and energy-storage firm Kinder Morgan, said the aim of the donation is to help urban areas address looming demographic and other challenges.